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MCQAdvancedOrbital Mechanics & Gravitation

USAAAO — 2023 First Round

Question 8

A comet passes near the Sun on a parabolic orbit. While it's passing near the Sun with orbital velocity V , the Sun's heat causes the comet to melt, and it shatters into many small fragments. The fragments move away uniformly in all directions (in the comet's reference frame) with velocity v ≪ V . What fraction of the fragments will escape the solar system? Ignore any forces other than the Sun's gravity.

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Source

USAAAO 2023 First Round. Question text, choices, and answer were transcribed from the official USAAAO exam and solutions PDFs.